Is Access to Recreational Trails Part of Your Campground Selection Criteria?

A recent article back home in Little Rock about converting an abandoned rail section from Little Rock to Hot Springs to a trail system prompts this discussion.

Many of us hike, bike, or walk as part of our "on the road" fitness regimen and for us, a good trail system accessible from the campground or very near is a key criteria as we pick parks along our way.

Little Rock actually already has an amazing trail system that connects all three major RV parks in the area and tours both sides of the Arkansas River for over twenty miles. The Olympic Discovery Trail that we picked up in Sequim, WA was a really well done trail system. We found another in Canon City, CO along the Arkansas River as well. Albuquerque had a well defined bike trail system, as did Salt Lake City and Moab (imagine that!)

So if you are picking your next stay, on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being very important, where does trail access rate with you?

Kim

Yeah, hiking trails are an important factor for me too.  Maybe a 7 of 10.  Depends somewhat on whether we're heading for a destination or just bopping from place to place, but it's always a consideration.  We gravitate toward state parks most of the time.  ...  Steve

I love to hike but access to hiking trails really doesn't enter into it. I can find places to hike just about everywhere.

We don't hike on trails much anymore, but still enjoy regular walks around the park.

Gary RV Roamer said:

We don't hike on trails much anymore, but still enjoy regular walks around the park.

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Our status, too.  My DW's two artificial knees don't do uneven ground very well and if she can't go, I don't go. :'(

Also, a nice trail in St Petersburg, FL. Haven't stayed there for a few years but the KOA was right on the trail so no need to transit thru road traffic to bike or hike.

Yes, any green space, doesn't have to be trails, just dog friendly! The dogs and I usually take a couple extended walks every day while camping, so green space is a major factor in looking for a campground. A tired dog is a good dog! I look for level site (prefer large site), 50 amp, and space to walk. 

I mostly stay at State parks, county parks, city parks, national parks etc., most all seem to come with hiking available.  Having dogs is loads of fun out hiking for sure. Makes them very happy campers!

South Carolina has a big hiking trail from the coast to the mountains all the way across the state. I've done some sections of it.

http://palmettoconservation.org/maps.asp

I consider hiking and photographing to be my number one touristy thing.  You see so much more of this big beautiful world when you do it on foot and paw. I'm in not so good shape, but I still find a way to get out and about whenever I can.

Beautiful trail system around Bellevue, NE. Like Gary and others, health prevents us from doing a lot of hiking but we try to walk around the parks we stay in.

We love hiking and biking. It's great to have trails at our doorstep but we're ok with tossing ourselves and/or the bikes in the VW and tracking down good spots. Geocaching also helps us find interesting trails abd places. We also kayak and having a kayak trail outside our door is a bit harder  

Fabulous kayak trails at Colleton and Givyans Ferry State Parks in SC, both on the Edisto river, you can even kayak between the 2 campgrounds. One outfit offers tree house rentals on an island in the river, you can kayak there to overnight at their furnished  tree houses.

Faver Dykes State Park in Fl is also on a kayak trail. 

All three parks are $20 or less per night.

Thanks Miss Mermaid. I'll make note of those spots in case we ever get east again. For those looking for good kayak camps west, there's a great spot on Dillon Reservoir in Colorado (not, of course in winter) and Mittry Lake north of Yuma.

I don't think we've ever really gone somewhere specifically because of the trails (the exception is Moab) but we always seem to find them wherever we go and some have been in quite unexpected places.  A good example is when we were going to Yellowstone last year and stopped at a rest stop that is a National Natural Landmark because it's on top of a lava bed.  The rest stop has three paved trails and we went on all three.  Our few minutes was extended but what a pleasant surprise to find such a neat set of loop trails with interpretive signs.  One of the loop trails is handicapped accessible; the other two have sets of steps.

ArdraF

So Ardra, where is this nifty rest stop ?

Wendy - I just knew someone would pin me down on that little detail.  Luckily I wrote it down in a letter to family.  Here's an excerpt.

Around Pocatello we started noticing a lot of volcanic rock, some forming huge walls of 20-30 feet high. After another hour of driving north, and with only 20 miles to go to our destination, we pulled off at the North Blackfoot Rest Area. This is on I-15 in Idaho at Milepost 101. This is the neatest rest area we've ever explored!! California and Utah both have some good ones, but wow! It's right on top of a large lava field and has three cement loop trails, the Upper Loop, Middle Loop, and the Lower Loop which is wheelchair accessible. The Upper and Middle loops form a figure 8 but each has one set of metal stairs. There are interpretive signs and picnic tables along the trail. We did all three loops which total about a mile.

The area is known as Hell's Half Acre and it has been designated a National Natural Landmark. We learned that this is the type of lava known by the Hawaiian term Pahoehoe (pa-hoy-hoy). Unlike the more familiar volcanoes that explode and send lava rocks for miles in all directions, Pahoehoe seeps upward through fissures in the rock. They form unique rounded flows. A couple of photos of this rest area are at the following website.
http://www.paydata.org/rest-areas/blackfoot-n.shtml
The last couple of photos are most representative of the loop trails. Anyway, if Jerry hadn't ?lost? that phone app and if I wasn't trying to adhere to the one-hour driving rule, we never would have stopped at that rest area nor would we have known this geological wonder existed ? and in a rest stop at that!

ArdraF

Something to look for next time we're passing that way. Kind of fun the things you can find in rest stops.

We pick sights we want to see and things we want to do first, then look for a campsite nearby.  We don't pick a campsite first.  We seldom are in the campground all day.  We are out and about exploring, hiking, fishing, etc.  The campground is a place to sleep, not socialize.

We usually look for the RVing requirements first, site size, paved if possible, patio is better, and access to cell signal (wifi). Since we have started running about 6 months ago, if we have a few different options in an area, we will pick one with some protected running paths. Streets are least desirable, dirt paths through interesting scenery is best.

Hi Kim,

I'd say that a hiking trail is pretty high on our list as we like to hike and bicycle. It is something we have researched looking for campgrounds we plan to stay. I'd put it at a 6 out of 1 to 10.

Another park is the lava beds near White Sands, the  Valley of Fires Recreation Area nw of Carrizozo NM that has RV sites and paved trails. It's on NM 380 between Sa Antonio/Bosque del Apache NWR about 5 m NW of town. There can be pretty, quiet nights there . . .